Kenya’s Top 6 Filmmakers/Producers to Watch: Jinna Mutune

Jinna Mutune quotes her favorite saying by the Composer Les Brown—“‘If you want a thing bad enough, go out and fight for it; work day and night for it; give up your time, your peace and your sleep for it…’” The tenacious filmmaker, who has a multi-cultural background, is focused on achieving her vision. She’s lived and worked in South Africa (where she studied Film Production at the South African School of Motion Picture, Medium and Live Performance) and in the U.S. After gaining experience with short films, music videos and theatrical plays abroad, she decided to come back home to make her mark. She is the Director/Scriptwriter for “Leo” (2011) her first feature film that was backed by her production company PEGG Entertainment. The film also had Hollywood cinematographer Abe Martinez (whose credits include “Spiderman”, “Ali & Hancock”) as part of the main crew. M- NET TV (South Africa) have acquired “Leo” for cable distribution in Africa. Jinna has also directed the music video for the Kenyan Official Olympic score (2012) and a seven-minute infomercial with Graca Machel (Mandela’s wife), which encourages Kenyans to stay peaceful. Jinna’s work has entered The Clermont Film Festival in France (2005), The Zanzibar Film Festival (2005) and The Real Life Film Festival in Melbourne (2006). Currently, Jinna is working on a “Leo” movie tour in America and her next film. “I am passionate of telling a different story about Africa, beyond the stereotypical images of war, poverty and famine,” she states. For more information, log onto www. leothemovie.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGje8WPWqvc Compiled by Josephine Opar and Anyiko Owoko.